Debt free at 40! 3 years to go.

pickle_me

Hi Kat A suggestion often made on here with regard to haircuts is to try out your local college, if they have a hairdressing training salon. I went to my local for the first time a few months ago and it was one of the best cuts I've ever had, exactly what I wanted and for the princely sum of £10 - and that includes a £2 tip! It takes a little longer than it would at a standard salon as every stage has to be checked by the supervisor (but that's no bad thing!) but if you have the time to spare, but not the cash, I'd recommend it.

I started shopping at Lidl following our LBM and I'm now a total convert. After a few visits you get to know what to look out for (the maple cured bacon is gorgeous!). I split my grocery shopping between Lidl and Sainsburys and it is a bit of a pain but I save money week after week, so it's worth it.

Good luck with your journey, I'll be following your progress

katniseverdeen

pickle_me wrote: »

Hi Kat A suggestion often made on here with regard to haircuts is to try out your local college, if they have a hairdressing training salon. I went to my local for the first time a few months ago and it was one of the best cuts I've ever had, exactly what I wanted and for the princely sum of £10 - and that includes a £2 tip! It takes a little longer than it would at a standard salon as every stage has to be checked by the supervisor (but that's no bad thing!) but if you have the time to spare, but not the cash, I'd recommend it.

Good luck with your journey, I'll be following your progress

Thanks for the suggestion Pickle me :T I went onto gumtree looking for something else and then looked up 'hair models'. I now have an appointment at toni and guy to have a trim. It will cost £10. I will let you know how I get along.


With regards to gumtree, I watched the Kirstie's Fill Your House For Free last week and loved the inspiration. I went on and looked at the free things. Very handy to know.


My washer broke this weekend. Fortunately I have a very clever OH who is fixing it. Family are helping me out by letting me use their washer.


We are also struggling with our CREDIT CARD debt. Only paying the minimum balance. All our cards now have APR on them as they originally were 0%, and when we pay them each month we use them again as we have no money and its usually for food and fuel, nothing fancy. So we have asked bank of M&D for help. They are kindly loaning us the money for our credit cards. We are paying them bank interest free (I think, although I would be happy to pay back interest). They were surprised at how much a month we can pay them. Its just this way it will take much less time.


Holiday plans are coming along. I sold some things on ebay and used the paypal money to buy some groupon and living social offers for days out and food close to where we are staying. Its not much but it will help and give us a little bit of a structure to our week. I am also going to use Tesco points for a day out and hopefully a meal.


I am doing extremely well with NOT DRINKING ALCOHOL! Another goal I have and one that costs a lot to keep up too. I have introduced water with lemon. Sounds so boring but I know its really healthy. Feeling much better is also helping with keeping a positive attitude.


This weekend I food prepared a little. I made some healthy treats and bought 2 whole chickens and fish, cooked them all together (only heating the oven once) and then portioned it into containers for the week. So much easier defrosting a container of cooked chicken. No excuses for takeaways!

Dobbibill

Well done with all the little changes you are making, you are certainly doing lots of things to support your mission.


Nice to see part of your debt will be transferred to 0% with bank of M&D, at least the interest rate is not going to add to the mountain you are climbing which is fab!


Keep up with the posts, you are doing so well :T

katniseverdeen

As the school holidays have begun time has also got tight so I have finally managed an update.


Haircut
As previously mentioned I went onto gumtree and got an appointment for a cut and blow dry at Toni & Guy. I was nervous as my hair is very long and I didn't want to come home with a random hairstyle. Well... it was amazing. A fantastic experience. Toni & Guy! I like nice things and this was a treat. It took the girl 2 and a half hours but with it being 6 months since I had been to the hairdressers it was necessary. The cut was brilliant as the hairdressers was 2 years through training. It cost me £10 and I left a tip and £2.70 to park. I might even save up for 6 months time and get it cut again with the same girl who may be then qualified. She mentioned that I could have a colour treatment with another trainee. :T


Credit Cards
We have now cancelled most credit cards including next. They are all paid off except my Barclaycard. The advisor kept trying to get me to remain a customer and then offered me £50 credit. I have kept the card, used the credit to buy school clothes from Asda and will be calling to cancel the account next week.


Profit
We sold our daughters bike on ebay for £35 so that has paid for a few things such as name labels for school clothes but I still have £30 left.

Holiday
Its our holiday coming soon so I am looking for a well needed rest and time with the family. We will be cooking in the caravan and enjoying days out. I will post next about what we do and how I can economise!


The children have been occupied by loom bands which is great and we have been enjoying the good weather. I keep saying no to spending and saying "you can spend your pocket money on holiday" and they are content with that!

Good Habits
I had some bad news from a family member. It was difficult but I noticed how I handled it better because of habit changes. I didn't reach for the bottle or the credit card because that isn't part of my life now. Faced the news head on and did exercises, went for a run and rested which often helps with mental stress.

Shopping
We DID go to the shops and bought my daughter some wellies from NEXT for our holidays (best to be prepared). In the SALE and the are so nice! I also exchanged some school clothes as my mother in law kindly bought a few things from M&S. I did go to the food hall and looked around. WOW! Its like food heaven. BUT SO EXPENSIVE! We were going to buy a pizza and bottle of wine and realised we were in the wrong place. CRAZY. I know that having savings isn't by buying food regularly in there! Food shopping this week was from ASDA and my delivery pass of £3 a month expired so I did the click and collect. Great for free delivery and keeping the spending in control.


Debt Progress
My OH has updated our signature so we have again made progress with debt

patman99

Looks like you are really doing well. Plans work well when you stick to them.

katniseverdeen

It has been a while since I have posted. We have been busy. I have been working hard and managing money very well. Its as though we have really turned a corner and now have good spending habits.


Food shopping.
As advised above we now shop in LIDL and love it. My husband has been going along with a shopping list and then going to Asda for any other items that Lidl don't have. It is saving us money! I do find we often go to sainsburys, asda and Tesco during the week for bits and bobs and spend extra money that I believe could be monitored and managed better.


Shopping
We don't go. Its no longer our recreation. Instead we go for walks, and do other activities that the kids enjoy. We may treat ourselves to the odd coffee now and then but its a such a difference from eating out and spending 100's of pounds shopping.


Mobile phone
I now have switched my long term contract to a sim only contract and pay only £10 a month. I have kept my phone (IPHONE5) which works perfectly. I did have full intentions of getting the iphone 6 as I always upgrade once my contract expires but I asked myself why do I need to upgrade and continue paying out huge amounts per month.


TV
Not sure if this mentioned before but we changed our Virgin subscription and got rid of many channels we never watched. Its great we can watch catch up TV etc and be bought a chrome cast which means anything on the ipad we can put onto the TV.


Cosmetics
In the past I have always purchased high end products and LOVE them! I have now exchanged these for drug store products from Asda etc and watch out for offers. I was so worried my skin would complain as I have struggled for years to get my skin clear and yet its just the same. I miss using the expensive products but the constant repurchasing of them is crazy! Now saving £30 a month if not more.


Alcohol
Due to many other problems in my life this is becoming a bad habit and this time of year doesn't help! I am going to make a start in January to curb this nasty addictive and expensive habit.


Work
I have managed to get extra work and this is great and helping. I am also managing my income so once I get paid I don't just go out and spend it all. This month I actually had money left before getting paid. FOR THE FIRST TIME!


Ebay
Selling and buying on ebay. I bought my daughter Clarks boots for school from ebay and they were lovely, saving £25. I did buy my son shoes from cheap store and they only lasted 6 weeks so I desperately got his new ones from Clarks. My daughter patiently waited the following month. (Never normally would I have done this for fear of one child feeling left out??!! and having a £80-100 bill).


I feel as though someone has taken off the rose tinted glasses and I can really SEE what is going on! When friends go out and 'buy' a new car and then complain they can't manage to afford things because they are struggling I know they are buying on credit. It may seem that they have a great life going on lots of holidays or buying new phones and cars.. but what of these things do they actually buy? I almost feel sorry for people who are making the mistake we made. Often to keep up appearances. There is always this worry that if I don't have a nice home, car or clothes then people won't be my friend. Who are these people anyway? Its certainly teaching me about confidence and contentment.


My OH and I have both agreed our difficulty now is when many items such as shoes, clothes, appliances etc get old and worn and we can't just go out and buy new its frustrating. I realise it is all about saving for such things and prioritising what we need most.


I will ask my OH for a finance update soon... which at paying of £1,200 a month it has gone down!

katniseverdeen

Dare I also admit... which I had forgotten. I used my credit card! So ashamed. My husband and I went away for one night and we went shopping. It wasn't bad at all. In fact I had the cash for most things but OH said 'put it on the CC'. Not sure why I did but it was stupid. We only spent about £100 on food and bits and bobs but then this escalated after the weekend to £300. Because I had the cash I paid about half off and then this month my husband paid of the rest. GONE AND GOODBYE. #whatwerewethinking?

katniseverdeen

I can't believe its taken me 8 months to post again. I have thought of posting so many times but life has just gone past so quickly.

Debt is still reducing and we continue to pay over £1,000 a month off our debt! The above post about using the credit card is interesting as once we paid it off it started to grow again and then we paid it off with money that was a gift from a relative. All £1,000. After this the credit card was NOT used until recently when I took time off work and once again we began to struggle. We bought food and fuel. Since then it has been hit again with other expenses. I am actually not sure of what its standing at now. I am ashamed I have my head buried in the sand and my husband said to forget about it. :sad: He knows that I worry, but he so laid back I become concerned that it will just increase. But.. even if its up to £2,000 which I think it will be its still a fraction of the rest of the debt.

I am now desperate to move house. For many reasons! House is too small, neighbours, location. etc. But we are tied into a 10 year fix (high) rate. We have 2 years left. I have wanted to move for years but accepted that we must pay off our debt first. Once our debt is paid off we will then be able to look at moving. Its now my incentive to keep strong and keep going. I feel that moving house is the strongest desire I have and will spur me to keep paying off debt and not spend more. I want to move more than buy clothes, eat out, go abroad etc.

The difficulties I am experiencing at the moment are peers. I find that many of my friends who are in similar circumstances are very comfortable financially, we are all around the late 30's have good jobs and children. I understand that I am responsible for the decisions we have made and that they are seeing the benefits of good decisions. I find it frustrating that they can decorate or spend money on landscaping the garden. I hear them talk about saving for a great trip to Disney land or a new car. Then I worry as I look around at my home become tired and worn. I know the garden needs money spent on it, the blinds are old and scruffy. Our d!cor is becoming dated and our car isn't fantastic. The things we had that we bought with debt are now becoming old and can't be replaced because we are still paying for them. We need to paint the walls and tidy the house but it costs money and also time off work that I can't afford. Being in debt is such a hard lesson to learn!

My husband has recently been offered a promotion at work which is great news! We don't know how much he will be paid yet but I am hoping that it will help with paying off our debt and then support us to buy a better house.

I will try and update the signature to see how well we have done as its now over a year old.